Something to cheer

Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif has informed the National Assembly that Kalabagh Dam is now among the six projects to be built as part of the future development projects. He assured that the dam would be built after consensus.It is no overstatement that the project would serve as the backbone of the economy, since it has been rated by the local and international experts as tailor-made to make up for the present shortfall. 3400MW of electricity can rev up the virtually decrepit economic engine.An important feature is that Kalabagh Dam can bring down the price of electricity to an incredibly low cost, which at present has mount up given the costly furnace oil. The vicious circle of circular debt is not an option for a cash-strapped nation like ours. Also we should not forget that Tarbela Dam is fast giving way to silting and sediment something that is going to require funding equal to the construction of a new dam.Kalabagh Dam is a safe bet from different angles; it does not lie in an earthquake-prone zone and secondly, it can be built soon enough so it won’t be very long before the economy would start getting the much-needed fillip.Tiresomely prolonged politicisation has been the main obstacle though the objections are of political nature because not one of the experts, even the one belonging to the KPK Engineer Shamsul Mulk has ever said anything against the reservoir. Their opinion is unanimous that this should be built as quickly as possible. The fact was endorsed by a minister from the previous regime who revealed that the financial loss of not building the dam each year was in many billions. Sadly this did not take any effect on his party running the then government, whose Prime Minister Raja Ashraf, -- earlier in his capacity as the water and power minister -- wrote if off as a fantasy.The good thing is that PTI government rules KPK and is already coming round to call for the dam’s construction. Sindh’s fears can be easily allayed with the assessment of the experts and scientists. We wish Khawaja Asif Godspeed!